First US Appellate Court to Decide Finds Geofence Warrant Unconstitutional

The California Court of Appeal has held that a geofence warrant seeking information on all devices located within several densely-populated areas in Los Angeles violated the Fourth Amendment. This is the first time an appellate court in the United States has reviewed a geofence warrant. The case is People v. Meza, and EFF filed an amicus brief and jointly argued the case before the court.

Geofence warrants, which we have written about extensively before, are unlike typical warrants …